British accountant sentenced to 17 years in Myanmar jail in controversial court case
23 June 2017
A court in Myanmar has sentenced a 30-year-old British man to 17 years in jail in a case that has attracted criticism after he was held for more than a year without charge.

Niranjan Rasalingam, an accountant from Croydon, was arrested in 2014 alongside three Indian nationals on suspicion of stealing 25.2m kyats (£13,744) using cloned ATM cards in Yangon.

Poor conditions during their incarceration and a confused and lengthy trial have mired the case in controversy. Although Rasalingam’s sentencing was on 16 June, his pro-bono lawyer was not present and his translator left early.

“I went to the courthouse to try to get a clear explanation of his sentence after receiving distressed calls from Niranjan,” Nadia Hardman, an international legal consultant based in Yangon, told the Guardian in an email.

“Niranjan was confused and said he was facing a 17-year sentence but that he could reduce it to nine years if he paid a 400 lakh (£23,000) fine within one week,” she added. “This left him in an impossible situation – he didn’t know if his family could raise so much money or how to get it to Myanmar. He didn’t have a translator or a lawyer.”

Hardman said a court transcript later showed that Rasalingam had indeed been sentenced to 17 years in prison, for immigration and other offences, as well as crimes under the Electronic Transactions Law. It is not clear if the now expired week-long deadline to pay the fine to reduce the sentence was enforced or extended, or if he can raise the money...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... court-case

This is hard to follow:
A British man, Niranjan Rasalingam, has received a very harsh 17 year prison sentence for credit card fraud in Myanmar. Two of the Indian nationals arrested with him claim they were not even in Myanmar at the time of the alleged crime.
The alleged crime is the use of cloned credit cards in a Myanmar ATM, and a complaint was lodged with Myanmar police by the Myanmar bank KBZ. But, according to the ex-UK vice-consul, UK officials have cleared Rasalingam of any fraudulent bankcard transaction and he denies any wrong-doing.
It should be clear - either he was using a fake credit card or he wasn't.
But the charges are not totally clear and he is also sentenced for immigration offences :

Hardman said a court transcript later showed that Rasalingam had indeed been sentenced to 17 years in prison, for immigration and other offences, as well as crimes under the Electronic Transactions Law

- Rasalingam maintains he withdrew money legally from a cash machine while in Myanmar on business for a holiday reservation website. He claimed to only know one of the three Indian nationals he was arrested with, with the defendants' legal team arguing two of them were not even in Myanmar on 16 November, 2014 – the day of the alleged offences.
The Indian embassy has reportedly already filed a complaint to the Myanmar government over the defendants' treatment, according to the Guardian.

Susan Garbutt, who worked as vice-consul at the British embassy in Yangon until April 2015, and who has been helping Rasalingam, claimed the UK police had already cleared the transactions made as legitimate. She said the money withdrawn was closer to £970 and done with pre-paid cards bought by Rasalingham in the UK.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/londoner-held- ... or-1576153


Mr Rasalingam, of Cherry Orchard Road,[Croyden, London, UK], maintains he simply withdrew money from a cash machine using his own card while in Myanmar, also known as Burma, on a business trip.
UK police are understood to have confirmed the transactions were legitimate.
http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/1 ... overnment/